About The Round Cut Diamonds
Diamonds come in all shapes and sizes. But the most well known of its shapes is called the round brilliant cut, popular because this particular cut usually offers a rough diamond the most brilliancy.
This is done buying cutting the rough diamond into a sort of cone-shaped form with a certain number of facets.
This is done to allow the maximum amount of light to penetrate the diamond and reflect back from the top surface.
When it comes to any cut, not just the round brilliant, polish and symmetry play two important roles as they are responsible for the brilliance and light refraction properties of a diamond.
Polish refers to the smoothness of the diamond s facets when cut, and if done poorly, can result in a dulled or blurry surface, making it constantly look like it needs to be cleaned.
Symmetry refers to the to the alignment of the facets, and if done poorly, can misdirect light as it enters and exits and diamond.
Even with modern diamond techniques, there is a dramatic loss of weight from the diamond crystal when cutting and polishing is done. When trying to achieve an ideal cut, which is a diamond s best proportions that is neither too shallow nor deep, allowing for maximum brilliance.
The round brilliant cut is usually the most expensive since it losses more weight on a rough diamond than say a fancy shape. The round cut is usually preferred when the diamond crystal is an octahedron, as often two stones may be cut from one such crystal.
Oddly shaped stones are more likely to be cut into other shapes, which is determined by the shape of the rough diamond itself.
The modern round brilliant consists of 58 facets that are usually cut in two pyramids placed base to base. 33 facets are on the crown, or the top half above the middle or what is called the girdle of the diamond, and 25 facets on the pavilion or the lower half below the girdle.
In recent decades, most girdles are faceted, with anywhere from 32, 64, 80 or 96 facets. These facets are not counted in the total. While the facet count is standard, the actual proportions of the diamond, which includes the crown height, angle and pavilion depth, are not universally agreed upon.
There are several cuts, like the American cut or the Scandinavian cut, but what is being commonly used these days is the Tolkowsky s ideal model.
A particular style of cut used in round brilliant diamonds is called the heart and arrows phenomenon. This pattern appears in brilliant cut diamonds that have good parallelism and symmetry and commands a high price in the world market, as generally more time is needed to make it so. When viewed from above, you will see a pattern of eight gray arrowheads in the crown.
When viewed from below, a pattern of eight heart shapes emerge in the pavilion, hence its name. This is phenomenon in round brilliant diamonds is highly valued because of its perfect symmetry.
Daniel Joines is the owner Polished Diamonds. For High Quality Diamond Rings at 1/2 retail shop available at: Polished Diamonds.co.nz - The Diamond Ring Specialist in New Zealand